All’s A-OK for Bravo Juliet- Bravo Juliet’s Jordan Whitmore, Caleb Wynne, Harry Pratt and Lachlan Cooper will appear on Channel 31 next month. 63241

By Justin Robertson
TO PLAY in a band with mates at the Espy in St Kilda is almost every muso’s wish.
Last month when Maryknoll’s Caleb Wynne, 20 – along with his band mates Harry Pratt, Lachlan Cooper and Jordan Whitmore, all 19 – took the stage at the Gershwin Room he had to pinch himself to make sure he wasn’t dreaming.
In front of 150 beer-swilling patrons at the Emergenza Festival – a competition for bands that write original songs – they played their set and were voted the number one act in Victoria out of the 20 bands that participated that evening.
“We were all absolutely over the moon to be playing at the Espy,” Caleb said. “It was the biggest thing all of us had ever done.”
The band sold 60 tickets to friends and family, which they say is their biggest achievement to date.
It’s been a busy two years for the band that came together through their love of the band Green Day.
In 2009 Caleb, Harry and Lachlan went to see Green Day at a packed Rod Laver Arena and they watched in awe as Billy Joe Armstrong carved out his three-chord punk gems.
Caleb said he always wanted to play guitar in a band.
“Just the fact that it was a three-piece band playing to that sort of crowd in a stadium and that they’ve been doing it all around the world, it’s something that all three of us wanted to do,” he said.
That night was the beginning of the band. The trio started jamming covers in “Cooper’s” basement three months later and soon gigs followed.
A majority of the early sessions was devoted to teaching Caleb how to play bass.
“The other two have been in bands a long time. Harry just decided to teach me himself,” Caleb said.
“We started to get through some really easy songs quite quickly.”
Soon they had an invite to an 18th birthday to test out their mettle.
“We sounded horrible, but we had fun,” Caleb said.
As the band progressed, they took up a casual residency at Station 59 in Richmond where they played 25 covers per set and developed their sound, stage presence and simply “had fun”.
This year they were invited to play a flood benefit gig at the venue and that’s when they included the fourth member, keyboardist Jordan.
Originally called Nine Thirds, Caleb said they opted for a name change, for something a bit more mature.
“When we were Nine Thirds, I don’t think we had any idea we’d be playing gigs at the Espy – it was OK when we were playing in Cooper’s basement, it was very high school,” he said.
“We liked the idea of the phonetic alphabet, so I suggested Bravo Juliet, as in B and J, Billy Joe, from Green Day. We just liked the sound of that.”
With that groundbreaking experience of playing at the Espy firmly under their belts, they can now set their sights on an exciting period ahead with a gig at Revolver, a show at the Barley Corn Hotel in Collingwood where they’ll record their set live, an appearance on Channel 31 and some studio time to record their first album.
When asked what advice he had for new bands starting out, Caleb said: “Playing covers and learning songs you already know when you start out is a bit easier than trying to create songs from scratch,” he said.
“But, really, you just have to be really motivated.”